Page 237 of Bitter Poetry

And she’s right. Dante and Christian will be thrilled too. I just know it.

“Guess you don’t need any more of these.” She picks up my pill packet and then frowns. “Hmm… this is not right.” She picks at the backing.

I’m frowning too. “What do you mean not right?”

The back pops right off. Surely it shouldn’t?

She grimaces. “These are duds.”

“What?” Sweat pops the length of my spine. I snatch the packet off her. “How do you know?”

“There’s no logo on the foil backing. If you look close enough at the pills, they’re probably missing the stamp too. It happened to my friend at college…” she trails off. “You’ve gone really white.”

“I need to sit.” I drop down onto the closed toilet seat. My vision is coming through a tunnel, and there is a ringing in my ears. “Oh, God. How long have I been taking duds?”

“I don’t know,” she answers, resting her hand on my shoulder. “I got them from the pharmacy myself, and I’m shocked to think they are supplying them en masse to the female population. But who knows? These are crazy days we live in.”

My mind is moving a mile a minute, rushing over events.

“Do you think it was Ettore?”

She sounds doubtful.

“No, not his style. If he found them, he would have confronted me, not gone to the trouble of replacing them…”

Christian.Underhand is absolutely his style. He had my bag after he snatched me. I only found it on the table the next day. I thought it funny that he just left them there… that he didn’t snoop.

“Is this the same prescription you had with you when Christian kidnapped you outside Dad’s house?”

“Yes.”

She blows out a breath. “You think he switched them?”

“Yes.”

“You think Dante knew?”

“Probably.”

“I’m going to kick their asses,” she says, vehemence lacing her tone.

“Better get in the queue. Also, be prepared to be disappointed; there might not be anything left by the time I’m done with them.”

DANTE

“You’re a pig. You’re both pigs,” Jessica announces as Christian and I walk in the door.

Christian grins.

I raise a brow. “Something happened I should know about?”

“Carmela told me I couldn’t kick your ass. But just so you know, if there’s anything left after she’s done with you, I will.”

Then she flounces past us, slamming the door as she exits the house.

“She’s pregnant,” Christian says cheerfully.

Elation slams into me. We knew she was late. It was only a matter of time before she checked and verified… Then, unease worms in my gut. “I’m not sure that warrants Jessica kicking our asses.”